Visit Censational Girl to see lots of fun patriotic decor. Thank you, Kate, for getting us all together. A happy Independence Day to all!
Wednesday, June 30
Stars and Stripes party
Visit Censational Girl to see lots of fun patriotic decor. Thank you, Kate, for getting us all together. A happy Independence Day to all!
How to crack eggs for free
The egg is a marvelous food item. Where else can you find a significant source of protein (6g per egg) in an easy-to-handle, neat package, all for only about 70 calories and at a cost of about ten to fifteen cents?
Now, the goodness of this nutritional powerhouse comes encased in a hard outer surface known as a shell. The savvy cook learns to break through this surface in order to access the goodness found within. The process of breaking through the protective surface is known by the scientific term cracking.
Here's what you need to know about the process of cracking eggs.
You will need an egg (or eggs) to crack and a vessel into which you can deposit the inner contents of the egg.
Hold the egg firmly in one hand. Tap the center of one of the longer sides of the egg lightly but sharply against the edge of your vessel. You should see a crack appear in the shell; if not, you have not tapped the egg sharply enough and you should try again.
Once you have established that a crack indeed exists in the shell of your egg, take the egg into both hands with the crack appearing on the upper side of the egg. Using both hands, hold your egg over the vessel and gently use your thumbs to pull the crack into a frank opening. Aim your egg slightly downward so that the contents of the egg will land in the center of the vessel. You may then dispose of the egg's shell and proceed to use the contents for any one of various culinary uses.
Bon appetit!
Tuesday, June 29
Hello again
Tuesday, June 22
Silver
Monday, June 21
It's art if I say it's art
Friday, June 18
Uh-oh
Tuesday, June 15
Ain't nothing like the real thing
Monday, June 14
I love Paris in the springtime. . .
Thursday, June 10
English teacher: how to use bad and badly
Don't you love it when someone asks you a question you can answer? I think there's something very rewarding about knowing something and being able to share that information with someone else. Like the other day when one of my sons queried, "How many tablespoons are in a cup?" and I was able to answer "16" without batting an eye.
In that very same way, I love it when readers ask me a question about English grammar. It makes me happy to be able to answer someone's question, to have knowledge that I can share.
This week's question: how to use bad and badly. Oh, boy.
The answer is actually pretty simple, but these words get misused so often that many people believe that the incorrect usage is correct.
Bad is an adjective, so it's used to modify nouns or pronouns. Badly is an adverb, so it's used to modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
- That's a bad paint job. (bad modifies job, a noun)
- He did that very badly. (badly modifies did, a verb)
- I feel so bad. I have a terrible headache.
- That family's house burned down. I feel really bad for them.
- I didn't get a chance to read your post; I feel bad that I missed it.
Tuesday, June 8
Changing perspective
Monday, June 7
Back in town
When I first started blogging, I was puzzled by the way bloggers sometimes wrote, "Sorry it's been so long since my last post." After all, there's no schedule for blogging, is there? Aren't people free to post as frequently or as infrequently as they want?
Thursday, June 3
English teacher
Another Thursday of little grammar lessons!
Last Thursday I began writing about words that present special challenges to writers. Today I'd like to continue that discussion with the use of foreign words.
One of my readers asked that I write about a word that many of us use when we mean to say "Ta-da! Here it is!" That word is often pronounced "wa-lah," or, as a couple of my readers pointed out, it's more correctly pronounced "vwa-lah." If you're speaking, your listeners will hear the sound "wa-lah," and they'll know what you mean. But if you're writing, you should know that this is the French word "voila." It's a great word, and it's a fun word to use. . . you should try it. But spell it "voila."
Another such word is the Italian word that sounds like "chow." It's a wonderful, useful word that can mean "hello" or "good-bye." It is spelled "ciao."
One more Italian word we often use is the word that conveys the thought "Do you get it? Do you understand?" in one word. When English-speakers say this word, it sounds like "ka-peesh." But it's not spelled "ka-peesh," or "kapish," or even "capiche." It's spelled "capisce."
To tell the truth, I think that French and Italian people probably get a kick out of our using some of their words. But I think that if we're going to use their words, we should be respectful enough to spell them correctly. If you don't know how to spell a foreign word, simply do a quick internet search for it, spelling it however you THINK it might be spelled. You should be able to find the correct spelling pretty easily. If you want to be absolutely grammatically correct, you should also italicize a foreign word when you write it. You may not want to go that far, but I would encourage you to check your spelling. And have fun with it!
Are y'all tired of this? I want to write these posts only if they're helpful. Let me know if you'd like for me to continue!
Ciao!